Evatt Calls Veto Power Dangerous In Sanders Talk

Herbert V. Evatt, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Australia, last night carried his two-year old battle against the Security Council "veto" onto the stage of Sanders Theatre.

In the first of three 1947 Oliver Wendall Holmes lectures, Evatt described the Dumbarton Oaks conference and the changes in the U.N. Charter made at San Francisco, harking back at several points, however, to the great powers' veto which he termed "one of the great problems that is confronting the U.N."

San Francisco

Evatt revealed that "there were plenty of hatchet-men around the committees at San Francisco trying to influence the vote," but emphasized there was a "high sense of responsibility" at the West Coast meeting that wrote the UN charter.

It is inconceivable, Evatt concluded, that "the power of public opinion, focused through the General Assembly, would not in the long run succeed in over-coming the obstacles to successful operations of all organs of the United Nations, including the Security Council.

Evatt has long been a champion in the U.N. for the rights of smaller nations. In a recent election he placed second in the balloting for secretary-general of the Assembly.